Shards Of Glass
by Cryssy-miu
Summary: As Cora intends, Regina has been broken and shattered like a vase, but it's not Cora that ends up picking up the pieces. Regina and Charming family centric. Post "The Outsider"
1. Chapter 1

_(This is a Regina and family centered story that takes place shortly after they find out Regina's innocence, and find her about to do the unthinkable. May seem OOC, but with all she's lost, I think it's relatively in character. If there's one thing Regina needs it's a legit, utter break down._

_Anyway, enjoy. This is supposed to be an angsty one shot, but who knows, I might continue it.)  
_

* * *

There is a plethora of questions ringing through Emma's head over this new development, but there's too many to answer and not enough time to answer them all at the moment. The only thing that matters to Emma is finding Regina before Cora manages to.

The blonde throws open the car door, as her parents follow suit in the back seat and leap from the yellow bug. Henry attempts to crawl out of his seat, but Emma gently and firmly pushes the boy back.

"Kid, you can't come in. If there's a possibility Cora is in that mansion, then I don't want you anywhere near it." That and Emma has a feeling this conversation will be far from pleasant. If she had been accused of a murder she didn't commit, she certainly wouldn't want to see the ones that prosecuted her.

"But I know she'll want to see me," Henry rushes out, desperation in his young eyes. "And I want to see her."

"And you will," Emma promises. "First we need to make sure she's alone." After everything they have speared Regina with, letting her see her son is the least they can do for her.

Snow and Charming are already at the door to the mansion and slamming their hands against it to try and alert the ex-queen inside.

"What makes you so sure Regina is going to be here?" Charming asks.

"Nothing," is Emma's immediate answer. "But I'd rather start by checking the most obvious place then scour every inch of Storybrooke just to find out she's been here this whole time."

Timidly, Snow knocks her fist against the door, but Regina doesn't answer it. The door stays shut and not a sound arises from inside the house. Snow knocks again, but still there is no answer. Something compels Emma to look through the window, and when she does, it feels as if she has been submerged in frigid waters as she freezes on the spot. She can see Regina hunched over in a chair, holding something in her hand that glows an earthly pink.

"She's reverting," Emma realizes with horror, wondering whose heart is in the woman's hand.

"No she isn't," Snow says, and she slams her foot against the door to open it. Regina stands immediately, but she doesn't look alarmed. No, she's standing there and staring at the two with a nonchalant gaze for someone who is holding a human heart.

Whose heart is it, Emma wonders. Has she somehow get a hold of Snow's heart? Is it Charming's? Did she just grab a random heart from her vault to vent out her anger?

The broken woman gazes down at the heart with a serene look, as if what she's about to do is going to bring her peace. Suddenly it's clear whose heart it is.

"Regina, don't do this," Emma gasps softly. She begins to advance toward the woman, in a way a negotiator would a suicide bomber: cautious and carefully. "Archie is alive and we know you're innocent."

Snow can only stand there for a moment, taking in the sight before her. The witch that has tried to destroy her, the witch that couldn't be destroyed, now stands as a broken shell of what she was with her own heart in her hand.

"Leave me alone, Ms. Swan," the former queen orders coldly, her face wiped of almost all emotion, insanity creeping up on her mind. "I don't need an audience for what I'm about to do."

"No," Emma says thickly, shaking her head. "You're not going to do it."

The laugh that rises from Regina sends chills up every spine. It isn't the laugh of an Evil Queen; it's the laugh of someone who has lost every ounce of their sanity. "Really, Emma? You think I've never done this before? I'm quite experienced, I assure you."

"No, don't throw it all away-"

"There is nothing _left_ to throw away!" Regina snarls, and she holds up the glimmering organ threateningly, her nails hovering over it and about to dig in. "I have nothing left."

"Yes you do," Snow protests, tears in her eyes. "You still have a chance. I gave you one long ago and you never took it, so please take it now. Please don't give up. We know you're trying to change-"

"I'm not given the chance!" the ex-queen snarls. She begins shaking with grief, self hatred, and hatred for the world. She steps back as the savior and her step daughter advance, their expressions pleading. Charming remains at the door, but for once he isn't looking at her with indifference.

"Please, Henry needs you," Emma whispers. Her voice is cracking because she can't bear watching someone that could have a chance at life die right in front of her.

"No he doesn't. He needs you, he needs his mother." The former queen backs up like a cornered and wounded animal, still gripping the heart in her hand.

"You're his mother too," Emma whispers, needing the woman to believe it.

"No I'm not," Regina hisses quietly. "You said so yourself. He's your son, not mine. I can never see him again."

"Yes you can," the blonde promises, now fighting the tears and trying to remain strong. "You can see him. He wants to see you, he wants to see you right now."

"He'd never want to see me," Regina snarls, her voice beginning to tremble and inhale tearless sobs. "He never used to before, why would he want to see the Evil Queen now?"

"Stop calling yourself that," Snow pleads, feeling the pain tighten in her heart. It's beginning to dawn on the family what they have done. "You don't have to be that anymore."

"Yes I do!" the brunette practically screams. "I will never change!"

Emma shuts her eyes and knows that whatever they say, Regina will hurl back in their face with the reminder of the horrific things they said to her earlier. They aren't doing anything but hastening the woman's want to crush her own heart.

"Regina, do something you've never let yourself do," Snow tells the woman, in a soft and almost soothing tone. "Accept help for once. Let us help you."

There's a flicker of hope in the woman's face, and for a moment Snow sees her step mother, lost and anguished. After a moment her face glazes over with malice and hate again, and she begins to squeeze the heart.

Both woman scream at once; one screams 'Regina!', while the other one screams 'Mother!', and Charming fires his gun, intentionally missing but startling the woman into stumbling and releasing the heart.

Emma scrambles for the heart while Snow catches her step mother, who is nothing but a broken mess by this point.

The woman only half-heartedly struggles, and finally lets herself go limp in her step daughter's arms. The tears don't come, although she is as broken as a person can be. Snow holds her in a half embrace and a half restraining manner.

Regina can't cry and she wonders why. After all this, her eyes are dry, although her body shakes with suppressed sobs. She wants to fall to pieces in her step daughter's arms and finally let someone take care of her, but she's still too afraid to let anyone in.

The Charming family looks down at the woman who is nothing but a shattered, hollow mess, and despite all she has done to break them, they can't find pleasure in her suffering. There is only a grim look of pity in each sets of eyes.

Emma approaches Regina with the heart and prays to God that she doesn't screw this up and end up shoving the damn thing in her lungs or something. Regina tries to fight her to keep the organ away from her, but she doesn't have the strength to fight anymore and only releases a shaking gasp as her heart goes back into her chest.

Snow stares down at the woman and can tell she's holding back on her emotions. She helps her into a sitting position beside her, and every family member has no idea what to do now.

The door bursts open before they can say anything else, and Henry races into his mother's arms. He practically tackles her to the ground from the sheer force of the hug, but Regina remains upright and wraps him up in her arms, clinging as if her life depends on it.

Regina hasn't shed a tear since the family has come in, and not even when she collapsed against Snow. Here in the security of her son and holding her little boy, the woman finally loses it and lets every brick of her emotional wall come tumbling down as she bursts into heaving sobs.

Henry is crying too and murmuring apologies left and right into her hair as he tries to console his broken mother.

It's an emotional moment that cleaves the hearts of everyone in the room as they gaze down at both mother and son and realize things are changing, and here in the privacy of the mansion and unity, it feels like a family.

And that's what they are. The former queen is a part of their wayward, family tree, and it's time to build from the ground up and at last help to pick up the pieces.


	2. Chapter 2

_(I'm pretty much just writing this for my own enjoyment, but I decided to continue it with encouragement from my mom. I have some-what of a plot in mind, but this is more so a relationship developer than a direct plot one._

_Also, other than when Emma might call them "David" and "Mary Margaret", I'm using the FL terms because I like them better. Archie is in the next chapter.)_

* * *

Regina can't remember everything that's happened at first as she slowly awakens and feels a comforting warmth swaddling her body. At first, she wonders if she's dead, but when she hears the distant, familiar voices and the sounds of clanging dishes she knows that isn't the case.

The bed doesn't feel like her own, if she is on a bed. Her quilts are more fuzzy then they are silky. It feels like she's laying on a sheep. Slowly, the woman opens her eyes, and isn't sure if she's supposed to be at all surprised by who is sitting on the edge of the bed.

Snow is sitting on the bed and staring down at the awakening woman. Regina doesn't quite seem aware of where she is as her groggy, brown eyes take in her surroundings. The bed she's in is comfortable and she wants to nestle back in and shut her eyes.

She feels an odd sense—a mixture of security and fright. She's vulnerable and with the people she's sure want her dead more than anyone. Yet, it's the very notion that she's with them that makes her feel secure.

"Where am I?" the ex-queen asks quietly.

Snow doesn't want to scare the woman, and she knows telling her she's under the same roof as her enemies will do that. The woman only calmly shrugs and says, "Safe."

Regina wants to snarl at her. She'll never feel safe, not with them, and not with anyone. The only person that ever brought her comfort and security is long gone now. They're probably just waiting for her to let her guard down so they can hurt her like everyone else in her life has.

The woman doesn't have it in her to show the venom she usually masks herself with. There is no wildness in her, or rage. She slumps down into the bed and finally gets a good look around her.

Snow and Charming's home is certainly not anything the posh mayor is used to. It isn't regal or spacious like her own home, but it instead holds the air of peace and family. The place is puny, and cramped, and Regina can see a chair with a leather jacket a few feet away from her. She's in Emma's bed.

"Mom, you're awake!" Regina's heart instantly floods with love and joy when she hears her little boy's voice and sees him run in. Her arms instantly wrap around him, and he returns the embrace in full.

It takes a while for the woman to find her voice. She's all but lost it after the breakdown earlier. Slowly, she gazes up at Snow, who holds her gaze quietly. "How long...how long have I been asleep for?"

"Almost two days," the woman responds. Her voice is quiet, and although she is trying to sound detached, it's underlined with concern. "Henry wanted us to take you back."

It's not a lie, but it's not the truth. Henry did beg with the family to bring the woman back, but it took little convincing, at least on Snow and Emma's part. Charming was a little harder to sway, but Snow was not about to leave her step mother alone when she almost killed herself.

Regina lays back against Emma's pillow and stares at the ceiling, trying to piece things together in her mind. She doesn't remember anything after Henry ran to her, seconds after she almost... At what point did she willingly agree to come back with the family, and when did she fall asleep?

"Dinner." It's Emma's voice this time, and she's at the door. She looks at Regina and her expression is undetectable. In her hands is a steaming bowl of soup, and the woman almost melts at the succulent scent of chicken broth. Yet, she remains on her guard and stays suspicious.

"It isn't poisoned," Emma scoffs quietly as she holds out the bowl. "Besides, I think that's more so your forte." She isn't sure whether to be relieved or exasperated at the typical Regina-glare this gets. The woman is starting to go back to herself.

Regina is about to take a sip, but she lowers it and looks up at Emma. "You didn't make this, did you? If so, I fear food poisoning. By the sound of things, you can't even pop popcorn."

It's a moment of relief and exasperation to see Regina's cynical humor again, but Emma merely throws her arms up in defeat and disgust. She's sick of the way everyone treats her cooking as if it's something that could kill an entire population.

The brunette smirks from behind the rim of her bowl and takes a sip. Admittedly, it tastes as good as it smells, and fills the woman with instant warmth and satisfaction. She has hardly eaten in days. Or maybe it's even longer than that.

The feel of Henry in the bed with her is calming. She looks over at him and he immediately smiles gently back at her, making her heart feel lighter.

Snow decides to give the two some time together and leaves, trusting Regina won't try anything as long as Henry is in the room. She meets with the rest of the family in the kitchen.

"So forget a dog, but I guess we apparently have enough room for the demon that tried to ruin all our lives," Charming remarks dryly. He shrugs at the glare he receives from Snow. Regina hasn't even done as much to him as she has to Snow, but somehow his wife still has more of a forgiving bone in her body than he does.

"She tried to crush her own heart," Snow snaps. "Henry was terrified for her." Though Snow doesn't want to admit it, it had shaken her up just as badly. No matter who she is or what she had done, you never want to see anyone, least of all your own step mother try to take her own life.

"Snow, there's hardly enough room for us four alone," Charming groans angrily. "Regina will end up having to room in the freezer." He looks thoughtful. "Not a bad option." Snow rolls her eyes, but Emma snorts.

"All I know Charming, is that I'm taking what my daughter said to heart: everyone deserves a chance, and now that we know she really has been trying to change, Regina gets a chance too."

Charming wants to trust his wife, and he knows he should, but given the past, he can't help but feel wary. The woman in the next room doesn't even seem like she used to be a threat, and she still has her magic. "I think we should have at least taken her magic."

"Cora is loose," Emma points out. "If she goes after Regina it would be utter cruelty to leave her defenseless like that. Having her here would be useful anyway. She'd be able to protect us."

"Maybe," Charming agrees. "Maybe she'll be good protection." He looks back at the room. "Or maybe reuniting with her mother will be the end to us all."


	3. Chapter 3

_(I've decided to continue with this, simple because this site needs more Regina/Charming family fics. After all, she's a stepmother, a step grandmother, and an adoptive mother to three people of that family. It's obviously AU since we know what happens after the "Cricket Game", but I don't think I had to mention that anyway. The fic is divided around everyone in the Charming family, but my biggest focus will be Henry, Regina, and Snow.)_

* * *

It's around seven when Snow comes back in to see Regina. She has been alone for the past hour as Henry splits his time in between his two mothers and watches _Madagascar _with Emma. Regina wants to join, but she can't get herself out of the bed.

"Emma wants her room back tonight," Snow tells her step mother. There is a slight smile on her face, like she's trying to have a friendly conversation with the woman. "She's slept on the couch for two days now."

"Why didn't you just put me on the couch?" Regina isn't picky with where she slept, as long as it's clean. Snow White lives in this apartment; she probably enslaves all the animals around her to clean it every day.

"We would have, but Henry wanted to stay with you." Snow watches Regina's eyes fill with hope and affection. "You scared him." She pauses, and then decides to add, "You scared all of us. Your heart...Regina, why?"

The ex-queen falls utterly silent and turns her head, pain in her eyes. She's still wondering that very question herself.

Snow knows that she's taking a long shot asking Regina something so personal. If there's anyone Regina wants to talk to it certainly isn't her, but the gentle woman wants to know. The pain in her step mother's eyes is almost too much to bear.

Regina, as expected, doesn't answer at first, and Snow is about to leave when her mother speaks. It's not the voice of the Evil Queen.

"I'm reminded I'll never change, I'm forbidden to see my son, I'm a hated pariah...tell me, Snow, what would you do?" There's no hate and condescending in her tone, but only quiet honesty.

Snow can't answer this, because she really has no idea what she would do, and knowing she's half the reason Regina was almost pushed to suicide is too agonizing to think about. Clearing her throat and trying to be strong, Snow stands up from the bed.

"Emma and Henry are watching a movie." She watches the woman, but she makes no response. "The living room couch is more spacious than this bedroom—which, by the way, Emma is going to kick you out of soon."

Regina doesn't want to look at her. The cool look of bitter glass settles on her face again. "Then I'll wait until she does kick me out to leave."

Snow rolls her eyes. This is Regina, the most stubborn woman she's ever met. If Regina won't leave the bedroom on her own she'll have to just wait for Emma to forcibly drag her off the mattress. Frankly, that would be a funny sight to witness.

There's a knock at the door, and the moment Charming answers it, something large and furry bounds into the apartment, pouncing on Emma's bed, and, inadvertently, Regina's face.

Even Snow has to gape and fight off the welling laughter at the startled yelp that rises from the brunette's mouth as she furiously shoves the rather large dog to the floor, muddy paw prints now adorning her cheeks.

Snow leaves before she can burst into laughter, already feeling Regina's acid glare on her back, and hearing Charming chortle from the kitchen. Pongo gives Regina a large, obnoxious lick up the center of the face, and that's enough to make laughter break out in the kitchen.

"My...sincere apologies, Regina. Pongo thought Henry would be in here." A smile crosses Archie's face as he watches the dog affectionately snuffle the woman's cheeks, and he's not blind to the subtle inch Regina's mouth turns up. "He seems happy to see you anyway."

Regina doesn't answer. She's too busy staring at the cricket in front of her and swallowing the annoying lumps of emotion in her throat. She shouldn't be reacting like this. It was a stupid bug, and one she'd probably, thoughtlessly crush under her boot in the _Enchanted Forest._

Yet it is this very same bug that had given her the chance when no one else would. It was that bug that hadn't regarded her as her dubbed title as the Evil Queen. And it was that same bug, her only friend that she'd thought she'd never see again.

"Hello, Bug," Regina greets with a nod. She's trying to show indifference, but the rim of her eyelids are wet and red. "What are you doing here?"

The cricket shrugs with a wayward smile, smoothing his hand through his dalmatian's fur, and letting him run out into the living room to find Henry. "I thought I'd come and visit-"

"House call?" Regina sneers, unsure whether or not to feel touched or angered at the fact he thought she was too weak and needed someone right now. Then again, that assumption was correct.

"They told me." That silences things between the two, and Archie doesn't come out with the big 'Regina, why?' Archie knows the unfathomable pain she's gone through. He was there through every session, and especially the night Daniel returned, where he almost found himself embracing the sobbing ex-queen as she practically crumbled the moment she stepped through the door.

"I figured they would," is the Queen's cold response. "No one would be able to resist blabbing out how the Evil Queen finally lost it and was ready to end it all."

Archie shakes his head, finding it sad how the woman can't just accept a little kindness. "They were worried."

"No they weren't."

"They brought you here, didn't they?"

"They brought me here because _Henry_ wished it."

Was that what the woman was told, Archie wonders. Certainly Henry wished to be with his adoptive mother, but judging by the conversation on the phone where a broken Snow White had let herself cry on the phone, alone in her bedroom, Henry wasn't the only one.

"Tell me, what was going through your head when you were about to do it."

"You want me to list everything I was thinking? That could take hours." She sits there and realizes he's waiting for an answer. "I was thinking about my son." Truthfully in the scattered abyss of questions and regrets, Henry was the only thing that mattered. "I was thinking about how I lost him forever and how nothing I did would ever be good enough."

"I'm sorry I wasn't there that night. I know you needed someone."

That's true. Selfish anger wells in the former queen's chest, because she was alone that night. He had let her be alone. He wasn't there when she needed him the most. He's the only person in this world Regina can come close to ever calling a friend.

"I'm not in the mood for therapy right now, Bug," she tells him coldly. "Leave me alone."

He gets the message and stands up with a heavy heart. As he moves to the door, he glances briefly into the living room, where he can see the heads of Emma and Henry watching their movie, and he looks back at the woman.

"You shouldn't seclude yourself in here, Regina. You've been taken back here for a reason, I'm sure. I think you should join them." A scoff is his only response, and he goes to leave. Before he does, Regina clears her throat, her voice broken and cracked.

"I'm glad you're alive, Doctor Hopper." There are tears in the corner of her eyes, that sparkle with pain and relief.

The doctor smiles and gives her a nod, leaving the room with a dalmatian in tow.

It's just Regina in the room now, still wrapped up tightly in Emma's blankets, and thinking on everything the cricket said.

She's in the apartment of her enemies, and she can even see two of them in the kitchen, sipping coffee and probably pretending she doesn't even exist. She should stay in the bedroom, concealed under the blankets and away from prying eyes. She should escape out the window. She should be out with Henry. There is so much she should and shouldn't be doing, but she doesn't even know what's right and what's wrong.

In the end, it's the need to see those young, beautiful green eyes of her son, and her hated of being alone that finally pushes her up from the bed for the first time in two days. Her limbs feel weak and malnourished, even though Snow has been pumping enough food in her to fatten her up to eat (which she probably is).

Regina's bedraggled state probably surprises Snow and Charming (and anyone who isn't used to seeing the pristine mayor of Storybrooke in such a state), but no one says anything, nor gives her more than a glance as she walks out into the living room.

Henry beams up at her when he sees her, and she immediately smiles back. Surprisingly, even Emma gives a cautious, but still sincere smile.

"Hey Regina." She blinks. "What the hell happened to your face?"


End file.
